Coated In Moonlight
by ShadowKnight The Writer
Summary: On a chance meeting one night in a clearing, Nurse Joy discovers a wounded Pokemon that after helping it, gives her the push she needs to follow her childhood dream and to leave her old career behind her. However, when it's the family tradition things aren't always as easy as you might think. Will Joy be able to leave her old life behind? Or will she stick with tradition?
1. Chapter 1: A Meeting Destined By Fate

_**Author's Note - This is a re-upload of the original fanfiction after a very, unique fan left there opinion on a PokeShip on the original which this story has nothing to do with. This fanfiction idea came about as a result of me watching the Pokemon Anime again for fun, and I happened to come across a Nurse Joy who somehow managed to own a Latias. She uses this Pokemon to test Gym Leaders to see if they are worthy of their title, so I thought I'd create a fun little backstory for them. **_

**Chapter 1:**

_**A Meeting Destined By Fate**_

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As the last trainer checked in to the Pokemon Center, Joy sighed heavily as she finished up for the night. It was the same routine day in and day out and truth be told she was sick of it.

The young woman wanted something more exciting in her life and yet she felt too scared to do anything about her desire. All her cousins were happy with their jobs as Nurses, and what would they say if she did go off in search of adventure?

Slipping her coat, she turned off all the lights and exited the Center. The walk to her house wasn't far, but she enjoyed taking the longer route through the forest. Ever since she was a little girl, she'd loved to observe all different kinds of Pokemon and at night was the best time to do so, at least in her opinion.

Most nights Joy would see the flickering lights of a group of Volbeat or Illumise, others she would hear Murkrow calling to each other in the trees above her. However, tonight was eerily quiet, and it gave her the creeps.

Joy was on high alert and nearly jumped out of her skin when a wild Rattata dashed out in from of her before disappearing again into the bush to her left. As she took a few deep breaths to calm herself down, Joy noticed that she was lost.

"Oh no, I must have taken a wrong turn!" she panicked as she didn't know what sort of Pokemon could be watching her.

As her heart began to race that's when she heard it, the faint cry of a wounded Pokemon coming from her left. Even if she didn't enjoy her job, she wasn't going to leave a Pokemon in pain. Without thinking Joy burst through bushes and over tree roots until she eventually came into a clearing.

There, coated in the moonlight was the Pokemon. Joy had to stop herself from gasping in sheer surprise, so she didn't startle the already wounded Pokemon; it was a Latias. She'd only ever read books about such a Pokemon but had never imagined that one day she would see it in the flesh.

Her surprise quickly dissipated when she noticed that one of its wings was badly hurt and it looked malnourished. Joy wondered just how long the Pokemon had been lying in the clearing and how long it had gone without eating.

As Joy took a step forward, she accidentally stepped on a fallen branch and the sound of it snapping under her foot was enough to alert the legendary Pokemon who flicked her head to face the young Nurse.

The panic in its eyes was evident even from where Joy stood. For a moment Joy stood frozen as she wasn't sure if the Pokemon would attack her to defend itself, but once she saw it try to fly to get away only to come crash landing back onto the hard ground, the young Nurse wasted no time in rushing to Latias' side.

"It's alright I'm not going to hurt you" she reassured the legendary Pokemon, "I'm here to help you, you're badly hurt" she continued as she fished out a Potion from her bag as well as a Sitrus Berry to help give the creature some strength.

Latias looked at the women with uncertainty, but the Pokemon knew that things wouldn't get any better if she refused the Nurse's help.

As Joy sprayed the Potion onto the wound Latias' let out a small cry of pain as Nurse Joy rubbed her head and told her that she was doing well. After a few more sprays from the Potion, Joy placed the Sitrus Berry in front of the legendary Pokemon.

"It'll help you get better. I promise" Nurse Joy smiled at her encouragingly.

As Latias took the first bite of the berry, she let out a squeal of happiness as she finished it off quickly before attempting to fly again. The second the Pokemon lifted herself off of the ground she flew around the edge of the clearing faster than Joy's eyes could manage to keep up with.

When the Pokemon had gotten over her excitement at regaining her ability to fly, she hovered in front of Nurse Joy as she affectionately rubbed her head against the young woman.

"It was nothing Latias. It's my job to help wounded Pokemon like yourself" Joy laughed before she realised what she had just said.

It was her job to help wounded Pokemon, a job that she had never decided for herself. Instead, she'd been pressured by her mother to join the family business. She wanted to travel the world and see all sorts of Pokemon, but she knew that wouldn't be a possibility if she stayed where she was now.

Before Joy could say another word, Latias encouraged her to climb onto her back. While hesitant at first Joy eventually agreed and climbed onto the legendary's back, before she could realise what was happening, Latias shot upwards, and Joy buried her face into its back, afraid that she might look down and see just how high up they were.

"Latias put me down. Please, I don't want this, I'm scared" she pleaded with the Pokemon.

Despite her pleads however Latias encouraged her to open her eyes and when Nurse Joy did she was taken aback, they were above the clouds, and she could see the stars brighter than she ever had before.

"Wow… it's beautiful" she said, her voice barely audible in her ears.

The legendary Pokemon let out a happy cry as she began diving and shooting back upwards into the clouds while Nurse Joy let out a nervous laugh as she tried not to think about how high up the pair were.

"Thank you, Latias. I would never have been able to experience something as amazing as this" she whispered into the Pokemon's ear which earned her a purr of appreciated from the legendary.

It was sometime later that Latias' eventually let Nurse Joy climb off her back and become reacquainted with the ground below, which after being off the ground for so long she felt her legs become jelly and felt that at any moment she would fall over.

"I'll never forget you Latias," Joy told the Pokemon as she rested a hand on its snout and rubbed her affectionately earning another purr from the Pokemon.

Latias' let out a happy cry once again before she shot up into the sky, leaving Nurse Joy standing outside her little cottage. For a moment, the young woman wondered if the Pokemon had known this house belonged to her, or if she had dropped her here because it was the only building for quite a while.

Nevertheless, it wasn't long before Joy's mind turned to the most important thing in her life. She wanted to change her career and decided that meeting such a rare Pokemon like Latias had been a sign from some unseen force that was telling her to choose to leave her old life behind.

Taking a deep breath, Joy sighed as she sent out a CV in the hopes she would get the job that she always wanted. Deep down she'd always wanted to work as an inspector for the Pokemon Agency but because of her family's tradition of all women in the family becoming Nurses she'd given up on that childhood dream long ago but know things were different.

As she hit send on the email containing everything her potential employer would need to know about her, Joy sat at her desk for a moment, heart racing. She'd done it, she'd actually done it, she'd finally taken the first step to achieving her childhood dream, and deep down she felt a tingle of excitement at the thought that she might get the position.

Joy also filled in the resignation form that she planned to had in the very next day before she slipped in between the covers and rested her head on the soft linen of her pillow. As she closed her eyes, she could hear the faint sound of Latias' cry in the distance and smiled happily as she dozed off into the land of dreams.

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**_Author's note - Hi everyone this is the first chapter of this story which will only be another chapter or two long but rest assured this chapter should come out next week. Special Thank to _Hybrid of Fate for giving me the names and i.d's of users I should avoid as I haven't written for this fanfiction since I was very young.**


	2. Chapter 2: Changing Fate

**Author's Note - Welcome back, everyone! Wow, this story gained more followers than I would have imagined from a single chapter and the story is even part of a community now! Anyways without further ado, I'm pleased to present you all with the next chapter in this story.**

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**Chapter ****2****:**

**Changing Fate**

Each step made her heartbeat quicken and the longer she walked, the more she questioned if this was the right thing to do. She could easily go back and beg for her old job again, but at the same time, she had a gut feeling that this was the first step in achieving her dreams.

As Joy walked back in the direction of her house through the forest where a bunch of Taillow and Pidgey sang in the treetops above her, she stopped and listened to there enchanting song.

Without meaning to Joy found herself humming the melody along with the Pokemon who seemed to all stop and take an interest in her one by one. It wasn't until she had stopped singing that she noticed them staring at her, and she felt her cheeks flush a deep crimson with embarrassment.

Before she could walk away; however, a single Pidgey landed on her shoulder and began to sing to her. Joy couldn't help but laugh at the situation and began to sing along with the wild Pokemon to her heart's content.

When she'd finished, she was started when the wild Pidgey and jumped off her shoulder and hovered in the air for a moment before transforming into Latias. In an instant Joy wrapped her arms around the Pokemon and thanked it.

"Latias without you I wouldn't have found the courage to make this leap of fate," she told the Pokemon as she held it ever so slightly tighter.

The legendary Pokemon only smiled and let out a purr of happiness to see the woman who had mended her back to health only the day prior, and for a moment Joy began to wonder if perhaps meeting Latias now wasn't just a coincidence.

"Latias what are you doing here?" Joy asked the Pokemon, "Have you been following me all day?" she added, raising an eyebrow at the creature.

Latias broke their embrace and lowered her head as she let out a low and sad cry which told Joy all she needed to know. However, she couldn't help but laugh at Latias' guilty reaction, which she thought was adorable.

"Latias there's something I have to tell you" Joy sighed, "I've gotten a job, and that means I won't be able to see you as much, but I promise I'll visit as often as I can" she told the Pokemon as she hugged it tightly once again, this time the embrace only lasted a few seconds as tears began to flood Joy's eyes.

Confused the Pokemon let out a concerned cry and rested Joy's head on her shoulder. The truth was that Joy wished she could thank the legendary creature for giving her the push she needed to live her old life behind. However, she was leaving soon for Kanto to start her work as an assessor of Pokemon Gym Leaders, and she knew that most likely she'd never see Latias again.

The two sat together in the clearing of the forest where they had met and just stared up at the cloudless sky, a sea of blue above them and a meadow of green below them, if it were under different circumstances than Joy would have considered this to be a tender moment between the two of them, but it wasn't.

The longer Joy tried to distract herself, the more she knew she'd eventually have to tell Latias that this would be their final goodbye to one another. She wanted to be happy, because of the Pokemon she had followed her dream but thinking about it, all she could do was hold back the tears.

"You look beautiful" Joy smiled sadly as she rested a crown of flowers on top of Latias' head which caused the Pokemon to let out a happy cry, seemingly unaware of Joy's conflicting emotions that were at war with each other.

Eventually, the time came when Joy couldn't pretend any longer, it was either tell Latias the truth or leave and lye to her about the promise of crossing paths again. She stopped and stood still for a moment, no longer able to keep her tears bottled up as big warm tears fell onto the ground below.

"Latias I need to come clean" Joy sobbed as she tried her best to wipe away her tears but to little effect as new ones took their place.

The Pokemon stared at the women with concern and confusion evident in its eyes and nuzzled its head affectionately against Joy as it let out a weak cry of worry. The action made Joy smile sadly as her lip quivered; this wasn't right; she couldn't do it.

With her hands becoming balled up into fists she took a deep breath and just pushed the words out, her fists shaking as she did so and her head finding the ground in shame at her inability, to tell the truth from the beginning.

"We won't see each other again after tonight!" she shouted out, "The truth is I'm going to be travelling the world and odds are we won't ever cross paths again" she continued as she sniffed and wiped away some of her tears.

Latias backed away frightened by the woman's sudden outburst and upon realising that she would be losing not just the woman who had taken care of her, but also someone she considered a friend finally hit the Pokemon like a ton of bricks.

Even though the Pokemon was angry about being lied to, it rested its head against Joy's and the two didn't say a word, instead, they listened to the sound of the forest and the other Pokemon who went on with their day, completely unaware of the situation happening in the place they called home.

"Well… I better get going, the boat lives soon" Joy informed the Pokemon, her voice barely audible in her ears as she broke their embrace which had felt more painful than she could have ever imagined it would.

Latias' watched as Joy turned on her heel and walked slowly in the other direction away from her. The Pokemon wanted Joy to turn around, to come running back and say that she had changed her mind and that they could play together as much as they wanted, but it didn't happen.

Before Joy could get too far away, her coat pocket got snared on the branch of a berry bush and as she pulled herself free one of her Pokeballs tumbled out and rolled in Latias' direction.

Joy watched as the Pokemon neared the device and picked it up in her mouth as she placed it in Joy's hand. For a moment, Joy paused, this was going to sound crazy, and even she could hardly believe she would say it, but she summoned all the courage she could.

"Latias, this is going to sound crazy, and I wouldn't blame you if you said no, after all, I'm just some nobody and you're a legendary, but my point is…" Joy gasped for air as she realised she had rambled for longer than usual, "Will you travel the world with me, that way we'll be free to play, and we'll be together".

The legendary Pokemon let out a happy cry and pressed its snout against the Pokeball, for a moment nothing happened, and then, in a sudden flash of red light the Pokeball Joy held in her hand dinged and Joy could help but cry a few tears of Joy as she released the Pokemon out of its capsule.

"I believe we have a boat to catch" Joy smiled as Latias let her climb onto its back, "Onward and upward!" Joy yelled as Latias soared into the sky, while Joy gave her direction on where to go.

By the time the pair had made it to the boat and Joy had managed to grab her suitcase, they watched as their old lives drifted away, as they set sail on a new future, with adventures for them just waiting to be found!

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**Author's Note - Hi everyone! So this is the final chapter that I had planned to write, however, with that being said if enough people want to see this story continue and the bond between Joy and Latias develop further I have no problem extending this story, just bear in mind I'm a full time author in the real world so I may not always be able to update as often as I have :)**


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